More Current Affairs:

Transcript

China signals new fight against corruption

The World Today Archive - Monday, 6 March , 2000 00:00:00

Reporter: Tom O'Byrne

COMPERE: In an interesting regional development over the weekend, the Chinese leadership have told the People's Consultative Assembly that there's to be a fresh war against corruption in their own ranks. In language considered unthinkable ten years ago, China's Premier, Zhu Rong Ji, used his annual report card to the national parliament to admit the government has allowed graft and corruption to run rampant. But as China correspondent, Tom O'Byrne, tells us, the Government's latest response to mounting anger amongst ordinary Chinese is no certainty to succeed.

TOM O'BYRNE: When Zhu Rong Ji stood to address the 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress his warning about official corruption didn't have far to go. The delegates all belong to the Communist Party that's in power in Beijing, but out of favour with the vast bulk of ordinary Chinese. To them politics and corruption have always been synonymous, only this time they were hearing the party leaders say the same thing.

ZHU RONG JI: All [indistinct], no matter which department or who is involved, must be thoroughly investigated and corrupt officials must be severely punished. [applause] We must resolutely put an end to the extravagance and waste and squandering seen in some areas. Government officials travel in to [indistinct] and dine in a luxurious style at public expense in the name of all sorts of invented activities. This waste of money and manpower arouses the indignation of the people. Such practices must be resolutely stopped.

TOM O'BYRNE: Old style communists have long been resentful of the stern faced tough talking number three in the Chinese hierarchy. Since his elevation to the premiership, Zhu Rong Ji has made plenty of enemies by his forceful shake-up of much of Chinese society. Turning around the moribund state economy has meant closing hundreds of loss-making state-owned enterprises leaving bosses without authority and workers without jobs. Lucrative and often corrupt business dealings by the People's Liberation Army have been stopped and hundreds of government officials are now either behind bars or preparing to go there. Even the NPC Deputy Chairman has not been spared. As an official noted at the weekend.

TOM O'BYRNE: Premier Zhu's pointed remarks though have not convinced the sceptics. Bill Jenner is Professor of Chinese at the Australian National University in Canberra.

BILL JENNER: One has the impression that China's rulers know perfectly well that there is a huge groundswell of either cynicism or hostility to the extent to which officials line their pockets, so they are worried about it but the thing is how to handle it without discrediting the whole system when the corruption is absolutely bound to follow from having a political dictatorship combined with a semi-market economy. It's bound to mean that officials line their pockets.

TOM O'BYRNE: As evidence of that there's been no official comment so far on the country's biggest corruption scandal involving billions of dollars and hundreds of officials in Eastern Fujang province, one unofficial version suggests the probe got under way only after orders from Zhu Rong Ji. But as one Hong Kong editorial noted last week, one man can't be everywhere at the same time.

COMPERE: Tom O'Byrne, our China correspondent on the line from Beijing.